Health

Why a Little Alcohol Prolongs Your Life?

Better heart health

By Stefan Anitei, Science Editor

9th of January 2008, 10:07 GMT

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Being a saint won't help you much. A little alcohol added to an active lifestyle may prolong your life. A new Danish research published in the "European Heart Journal" points that a little alcohol can lower your risk of heart disease.

The study enrolled about 12,000 men and women, who have been followed up for about 20 years. During this time, 1,242 died from ischemic heart disease (IHD). Overall, those who did not drink nor exercised were the category most exposed to heart disease, with a risk 49% higher than those who either drank, exercised or combined both of them.

In the case of the subjects with similar exercise levels, those drinking moderately (1- 14 units of

alcohol, corresponding to 0.5-7 glasses of wine, weekly) had a probability of dying of heart disease by 30%, which was lower than in the non-drinkers' case.

Those exercising vigorously and regularly had a decreased risk with the increased levels of exercising. Active non-drinkers presented a 31%-33% decreased risk of IHD, compared to sedentary non-drinkers. But this low risk was further reduced when consuming at least one drink weekly, up to 50% less than sedentary non-drinkers.

Previous researches put this effect of alcohol consumption to a boost on the amounts of "good" cholesterol and possible thinning of the blood.

"Our study shows that being both physically active and drinking a moderate amount of alcohol is important for lowering the risk of both fatal IHD and death from all causes", said Professor Morton Gronbaek, from Copenhagen's National Institute of Public Health.

"However, drinking too much starts to outweigh the benefits of alcohol intake and can increase your blood pressure. Physical activity has shown greater benefits to heart health and overall health in previous research compared to drinking alcohol. Alcohol is a depressant whereas exercise releases mood-enhancing hormones which can benefit quality of life as well as reduce the risk of death", Ellen Mason, a cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation, told BBC News.

TAGS:

alcohol | heart | exercise

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